Dynamic Coverage Mode Switching and Communication Bandwidth Adjustment

A user equipment device (UE), the UE comprising:

• a radio;
• and
• a processing element operably coupled to the radio and configured to cause the UE to:
• attach to a serving cell associated with a cellular network;
• determine a preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode from a plurality of uplink communication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum uplink bandwidth for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to the serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of uplink communication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum uplink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;
• determine a preferred first downlink communication bandwidth mode from a plurality of downlink communication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred first downlink communication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum downlink bandwidth for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to the serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of possible downlink communication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum downlink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;
• transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message to the serving cell, wherein the RRC message comprises a first indication of the preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode and a second indication of the preferred first downlink bandwidth mode;
• and
• communicate data with the serving cell using the preferred first uplink bandwidth and the preferred first downlink bandwidth.

A method for operating a user equipment device (UE), the method comprising:

• at the UE:
• attaching to a serving cell associated with a cellular network;
• determining a preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode from a plurality of uplink communication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum uplink bandwidth for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to the serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of uplink communication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum uplink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;
• determining a preferred first downlink communication bandwidth mode from a plurality of downlink communication bandwidth modes, wherein the preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode comprises a first maximum downlink bandwidth for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to the serving cell, wherein at least one of the plurality of possible downlink communication bandwidth modes comprises a maximum downlink communication bandwidth of 1.4 MHz;
• transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message to the serving cell, wherein the RRC message comprises a first indication of the preferred first uplink communication bandwidth mode and a second indication of the preferred first downlink bandwidth mode;
• and
• communicating data with the serving cell using the preferred first uplink bandwidth and the preferred first downlink bandwidth.